Oh boy, now we're cooking with gas!

Well ok, not literal gas. All our new fancy toys run on electricity! Aaron and I got each other some fun gear, including a really great pair of work gloves for me that verge on sexy. Also, being the dorks that we are, we couldn't resist getting matching blaze orange hoodies on clearance at Gap for keeping warm while we work on the house, and it's certainly a color I won't feel bad about messing up. We even did some mugging for the camera in our new gear:

After a relaxing and wonderful Xmas, we found ourselves with gift cards and cash burning holes in our pockets, which of course meant a bee line to Lowe's and Home Depot for some preliminary home renovation supplies. After consulting Consumer Reports to make sure we got the best quality for our money, we chose the Port Cable 19.2 Volt Cordless Drill from Lowe's, a couple Ridgid tools from Home Depot: an 11 amp reciprocating saw and a 7 1/4" circular saw. I can't say I fully understand why these particular versions of the tools are great, but the brands themselves are highly rated and their basic functions (screwing drywall, tearing down drywall, and cutting drywall, respectively) make sense for the work ahead. Aaron sure is excited about them, that's for sure!

At Lowe's, we got ourselves some nice treats from the clearance section: a couple appliance timers we hope to use so the bigger energy hogs will run during the night, and 2 of this lamp and shade (we don't have end tables to put them on yet, but we're hopeful!):

We also found out that our closing costs are about $500 lower estimated. More money for drywall and paint, always a good thing! Unfortunately I also found out that my new second job had not consulted me before scheduling me to work the evening of our closing, not to mention 4 out of 5 weeknights for the next two weeks and an 8 hour Sunday! Needless to say, I plan on asking for less hours during the next scheduling cycle so I have some time and energy left for working on the house.